Hi bikey friends!
I'm on the board for our neighborhood organization and over the years have
gotten the general conversation to budge beyond people who complain about
car parking... bit by bit! So now they are tearing out our single family
bungalows en masse and building apartment complexes to the scale of 350+
units each. Four in less than two years, all within 8 blocks of us.
We bought in this community because of the transit accessibility, but we
still have those TERRIBLE 20-inch ankle-breaking rollover sidewalks and
pisspoor intersections, etc. We're simply not at all accommodated to take
the blow of adding thousands more car trips each day, and we've also
created lots more cement.
It's clearly time for some traffic-calming efforts that our officials would
otherwise tend to in about year 2050.
I've been bringing to the board the thought of doing some murals (we also
face a large freeway retaining wall, so there's PLENTY of canvass!) that
raise bike/ped/transit awareness. The general response has always been YES
- great idea! But no one actually does anything.
I see all the mini-grants from Safe Routes and other usual suspects, but I
can't submit for them, even with the weight of the RNO behind me, without
at least a handful of things to show them. I've put out an open call for
artists and an open call for image sample ideas and gotten squat.
I'm guessing that I'm asking the wrong people. Why would the group that
goes to monthly meetings to complain that there is no longer street parking
directly in front of their home going to deliver traffic-calming sample
images to my inbox??
*It occurs to me - YOU are the right people!! *
*Please send/share your favorite, most impactful traffic-calming images*
that share bike/ped/transit love, inspire people to drive less and be more
cautious when they do, that these are healthy choices, that there are two
major transit hubs that people need to be able to get to/from... etc!!
Also if you know Denver-based artists that you like, I'm welcoming those
connections, too!
THANK YOU !!!
Pedal proudly,
Jody